


Knight General

by assassin_trifecta



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Gentle Romance, first fallout fic y'all wish me luck, hopefully i'll actually update, pretty quick burn lbr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-05-24 10:43:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6151016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/assassin_trifecta/pseuds/assassin_trifecta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Knight Jamie Schuyler had gracefully requested leave of the Brotherhood to help the common people of the Commonwealth. Elder Maxson assumed that's what they were already doing, but he remembered the uniform that she wore was not just his own. He'd granted her leave that she needed to help her people, and she'd thanked him gratefully. </p><p>Now, she worked primarily from the Castle, helping settlers and all sorts of folk from the Commonwealth back onto their feet.</p><p>That was interrupted, though, when the thud of power armor sounded from the path to the old fort.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Minutemen

“General!”

            General Jamie Schuyler’s head rose above the copse of muttfruit trees that she had been tending to, scarlet hair tied up in a sagging bun on the back of her scalp, eyes squinting in the direction of the voice that called her title. She saw a hand raise and wave in her direction, silhouetted against the backdrop of the sun shining through the demolished side of the Castle. A hat sat atop the figure’s head, and it stood tall over the people next to it. General Schuyler didn’t need to know the voice to know that it was Preston Garvey gesturing towards her.

            She rose to her feet, standing on her tip toes to stretch her legs, putting her hands on the base of her spine and bending behind her to stretch out the sore muscles on her back. After a satisfying few pops of her spine, Jamie wiped her forehead off with a cloth from her uniform pocket, grabbed her hat from the ground beside her, and made her way through the fruit trees and towards her companion. He met her halfway, a worried expression on his face that pulled his lips down at the corners.

            “We’ve got company, General,” he stated, his head turning back to face the broken wall. A Vertibird was landing in the distance, just past the complex they’d tested the artillery on. Preston’s shoulders tensed as he watched, but he turned his attention back to Jamie. “Friends of yours?”

            Friends that she hadn’t seen in a long time. Still friends, but ones that she worried about in _this_ place. She’d worked hard to make the Castle a haven for those that were persecuted in the Commonwealth. Ghouls that had been too afraid to find someplace in the Boston common or outlying settlements. Users who were looking to get clean and start anew. Settlers who needed a place to stay between moves throughout the area. Their fort was becoming a hub, and there were plenty of people who felt resentment towards the Brotherhood, here. Jamie had tried to alleviate that by displaying her power armor, a Brotherhood banner standing proudly next to it near the workshop. If the General was a part of them, they couldn’t all be bad, right?

            It had certainly had the desired effect on quite a few people already, they felt safer knowing that the Brotherhood had their backs as well as the Minutemen, but there were still some that were nervous stepping around her suit, as though it would come to life on its own and gun them down for existing.

            “Spread the word, Preston,” Jamie offered him a reassuring smile, though she couldn’t help the unease that rattled in her chest. She hadn’t seen her brothers and sisters up close for months now, though the Prydwen still hovered above the nearby airport. She’d felt close and far at the same time, but the Minutemen and the settlers needed her more than the Brotherhood did at the moment. She’d completed her previous missions for them and took leave so that she could be with the people of the Commonwealth, a goal that Elder Maxson surprisingly supported in full. They hadn’t bothered her since then, and she was beginning to feel more at peace with herself around the farms and the settlements than she ever had on the aircraft. Preston still hovered beside her, unsure of her orders.

            “It’ll be better if everyone knows that they’re coming,” Jamie continued, watching in the distance as a large form jumped down from the Vertibird too gracefully for its size, followed by two other normally sized individuals. A flare of recognition zipped through her, and Jamie was embarrassed to note that excitement came along with it. She shushed the feelings down momentarily – she couldn’t be sure who was approaching the Castle just yet. “Start with the guard. Spread it through the settlers. I don’t want anyone to be uncomfortable or unprepared in their presence. You know how they can be.”

            Preston let out a snort of a laugh. “You’re right, there.” He remarked, before taking off to follow her orders.

            The General wiped her dirty hands on the cloth she had used to wipe her face, getting the grime of the dirt off of her skin but unable to get it out from around and beneath her nails. She would have preferred to be completely clean for this meeting, spic and span so that they wouldn’t look down on her or her Minutemen, but she had been taken off guard by their approach, and felt at least a little bit justified for not being perfectly shiny in their pristine presence.

            The news spread quickly through the compound, and there were some that fled to the shelter of their bunks to wait out the storm. Jamie noted with a pang of guilt that it was mostly ghouls among those who scattered, even a few of them among the members of the guard. Preston quickly replaced them with human counterparts who took up their guns at the front posts; she could tell even from down in the compound that they too were uneasy with the Brotherhood.

            She had made a vow that this would be a safe haven for everyone, and damn it all if she would let that break now, of all times, when they’d found relative peace here at the Castle.

            The Brotherhood was almost upon them now, the three members traveling along the path leading to the rear gate of the fort. Jamie could hear the thump of heavy power armor along the path, and the same feeling of excitement traveled through her again.

            She hoped, but she also had to restrain herself.

            Reassuming her role of command, the General planted the old leather hat on her sweat plastered hair, pushing her bun down even further. She pushed back the strands that stuck out beneath the cap, tucking them behind her ears in a last-ditch effort to appear presentable.

            “They’re here, General!” A shout from the battlements above her. “Your orders?”

            “Stand down, men!” Jamie shouted in response, making a note to conceal her shotgun at her side, hidden beneath the long coat of her uniform. “They’re your allies for now, like it or not!”

            The thumping of the power armor was louder now, and anticipation curled in Jamie’s gut as she watched the head and shoulders of the approaching figure crest over the short hill that led up into the fort.

            Hope had paid off.

            Elation spread through her chest, quickly replacing the nerves that had bundled and kept home there.


	2. The Brotherhood

            Paladin Danse made his way through the destroyed portcullis, glancing uneasily around himself. Behind him, he could hear Rhys and Haylen reach for their firearms. Everyone in the compound had stopped to stare at them as they entered, the Minutemen on guard glaring down from the battlements of the fort. It was a well defended area. Knight Schuyler – no, _General_ Schuyler, he corrected himself – had done well to make the Castle a defendable area. The rabble were undoubtedly undertrained, but they could hold anything from this standpoint, if they would just fix the shattered walls.

            Jamie watched the three Brotherhood soldiers step into the compound, the excitement in her chest bursting forth. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed the three of them, even Rhys and his sour mood and dour scowl had remained in her heart the few months that she had been away from them. Haylen caught her eye first and gave her a warm smile. Rhys turned his glare to her shortly afterwards.

            Danse gave her a nod and the tight-lipped smile that she was familiar with, and Jamie’s heart shuddered in her chest.

            Excitement, she told herself. She’d been away from the Brotherhood for too long, and she was starting to miss them despite the peace that she had reigned throughout her settlements. She missed her friends. Her brothers and sister. Her unit. Danse’s admonishing lectures when she went too far out line. Rhys’ scowl. Haylen’s confidence.

            “Knight Schuyler.” Danse continued to approach when Rhys and Haylen stopped a few feet away. The Paladin nodded his head to her.

            Jamie couldn’t help herself. She grinned, gave a short laugh, and hurdled forward, reaching up to throw her arms around Danse’s uncovered neck. He let out a surprised shout, but his armor kept him from moving anywhere, even under the bulk of Jamie’s mass hung off of him. Out of his power armor, Jamie stood around the same height as him, though she didn’t have the weight that he did. Her muscle mass was lacking compared to his, but she was catching up between the Brotherhood, the Minutemen, and the farming that she was doing for the settlers. But Danse could hold her up in his power armor, even if he was startled by her sudden embrace.

            “It’s, uh… good to see you too, Knight,” The Paladin rumbled, and Jamie was pleased to hear the embarrassed note in his voice that he usually adopted when she had done something out of line or confused him. Danse wasn’t an emotional person, and sometimes Jamie forgot that in her wild feelings. And really, she was very happy to see him.

            There was a collective sigh of relief throughout the Castle after that, as Danse pat her shoulder awkwardly with his gauntleted hand, covering a good portion of her arm with the glove of his armor. There was nothing happening, and the Brotherhood and the General still seemed to be on good enough terms for none of them to take action against her. The jumpier humans started coming out of the halls of the Castle, though General Schuyler could only catch two or three of her bravest ghouls among them.

            Jamie finally let go of Danse, ignoring Rhys’ grunt of disgusted relief behind the paladin. She and her superior officer shared brief smiles before she righted herself and gave him a proper salute.

            “Sorry, sir,” she started clearing her throat. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment but she hoped that she could pass it off as a subtle coloring from working out in the sun for so long. “It’s been quite a while – what brings you all the way out to the Castle, in a Vertibird no less? Will you be staying long? I don’t have much room throughout the barracks, but you’re free to stay in my room with me.”

            Before Danse could formulate a response, Jamie heard a gentle cough at her side. “Is that appropriate, General?” Preston asked, and Jamie was confused by how he’d gotten there, but not surprised. She didn’t doubt he would keep a close watch on the Brotherhood while they remained in the Castle. She knew Preston was willing to share the Commonwealth with anyone, but she also knew that he was fiercely protective of the people they were harboring there.

            But Jamie brushed off his concern. “It’s fine. Danse and I share a bunk in the barracks on the Prydwen, so it won’t be much different. More room, if anything. More comfortable. I’m sure we can scrounge up a bed from the lower levels-“

            “What about the other two?” Preston asked, eyeing Rhys and Haylen with uncertainty in his eyes. “We don’t have a lot of other room here, General, and the Brotherhood makes everyone nervous-“

            “Relax, wastelander,” Rhys rolled his eyes, and Jamie could feel Preston tense beside her. She was suddenly very nervous that she had concealed her shotgun, but the other Knight rattled on. “We’re just escort. We’ll be going as soon as Paladin Danse has his bearings.”

            Jamie frowned. “Escort?”

            “Yes,” Danse sighed, looking for all the world like an annoyed teenager just trying to get a word in between his arguing parents. “I would’ve liked to discuss this with you in private, Knight Schuyler, but it seems your companions leave me with few options. Elder Maxson sent me to assess your progress on your personal mission, and to lend my assistance wherever you might need it. Haylen and Rhys are being sent back to Cambridge, so they took the Vertibird with me to the Castle.” He gestured back at the other Knight and the Scribe. “An escort.”

            Jamie’s expression was colored by surprise, and it took her a moment longer to respond than it normally would have. She stared up at the Paladin, her expression changing between concern and elation. She was glad for the help, of course, and for the support from Elder Maxson, but what would it mean for her people in the Commonwealth, who were unnerved by the Brotherhood? She’d done all the work that she could to normalize her people to the Brotherhood, but that didn’t mean the effect was as great as she desired it to be.

            “I’m not sure that’s going to work.” Preston grumbled behind Jamie. “General, you have to see this isn’t going to work.”

            Broken from her surprise by Preston’s question, Jamie turned her glance between her superior and her second in command.

            “Of course it’s going to work.” She stated, shrugging. There wasn’t anything simpler. Introducing Danse to her Minutemen, to the people of the Commonwealth – that was the only way to introduce the Brotherhood to the common people. It would be easier that way. He was the very essence of a soldier of Steel, and he was a good man, deep down under all of that power armor. If Jamie could ease him into common life, and ease the common life into him, then there were better chances of the people of the Commonwealth receiving the Brotherhood in a more… open manner. She didn’t like manipulating the people that had put their trust in her, but it was the only way, and it was a good way to get things done. Lesser than the evil of the Brotherhood stomping on everything in their path.

            Preston only stared at her while her thought process played out clear on her face, his lips parted in an outraged ‘o’.

            “General-“ He began to protest.

            “No, Preston,” Jamie smiled at him, placing her hand on his shoulder though she shook her head at him all the same. “No arguments. This is a good way to introduce the Brotherhood into the Commonwealth. They have the best interest for humanity in their hearts, and if I can help them, I can help the people, and I can help the Minutemen all at the same time. It’s easier that way.” She took her hand from his shoulder and gestured to her inert suit of power armor, standing guard by the workshop. “That’s there for a reason,” she continued. “I put it there for the people here to get used to the presence of the Brotherhood, the idea that I stood with them as well. And it’s working, to an extent. If that works, then Danse will as well.”

            When she turned to the Paladin, Jamie had such a hopeful look on her face that he didn’t even mind being spoken of as if he weren’t there, or as if he were merely a means to her end. Her hope for a united Commonwealth was one that he could stand behind, even if there were some unsavory characters involved. It would have been hard to let her down when she smiled at him so eagerly, the kiss of the sun on the bridge of her nose evident even under the shadow of her tricorn.

            Danse sucked in a short breath, realizing suddenly that Jamie was… She was-

            “Beautiful, isn’t it?” The Knight beamed up at Danse, squinting at him past the glare of the sun on his armor. “Would that be something you’re okay with?”

            The Paladin cleared his throat.

            “Absolutely,” he nodded. “It’s just the reason why Elder Maxson sent me here – to assist you in any way to the extent of my abilities as a Paladin of the Brotherhood. Showing our honor to the people of the Commonwealth will do us good, and it’ll gain their trust.” Perfect. The Brotherhood would no longer be a threat to the people of the Commonwealth.

            Jamie nodded once in confidence, then turned back to Preston, the picture of everything a General could be from the way that she stood to the way that she addressed him.

            “Preston – let the lieutenants know that we’ll be having a meeting later tonight. If any of them are in the field nearby, call them back through the Radio, this is more important than patrols.” Preston gave her a nod and a short salute before moving off to follow through with her orders. Still in Command Mode, Jamie turned to Haylen and Rhys, giving them a brief, warm smile.

            “Thank you two for escorting Danse here, I know neither of you must like the idea of it, but it means a lot to me.” Haylen had the grace to return her gesture and smile back. Rhys scowled and grunted. A normal response from him. “How long are the two of you-“

            “Not long at all.” Rhys replied, voice low and irritated. “The Vertibird is still waiting for us.” He jerked his thumb in the direction that they had come. “Haylen, say your goodbyes.”

            Rhys gave the Paladin a firm salute and turned his back on the two of them, trudging back to the Vertibird at a slow enough pace for Haylen to catch up when she would follow.

            But the Scribe lingered for a moment, looking between Jamie and Danse.

            “I think you’re both doing good work here.” She smiled at them briefly, offered a salute, and turned so that she could catch up with Rhys after a short jog.


	3. Paladin Damn, Son

            “Can I persuade you to take your armor off?” Jamie asked after a moment had passed and she and Danse were left alone in the middle of the courtyard. There were a number of Minutemen still staring warily at the Paladin, but many had gone back to usual business, their muskets pointing away from the inner courtyard and back onto watch. Now, it was only Jamie that stared up at him intently, her eyes glinting in the sunlight behind him, narrowed slightly against the glare.

            “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Danse said with a frown, obviously troubled by the idea of being out of his armor in the middle of the Commonwealth. “Shouldn’t I be prepared for an attack?”

            She knew he was just uncomfortable out of his armor, but it would be better for the others in the compound to get used to him outside of it first. Jamie wouldn’t say that outright, but she let the unspoken sentiment linger between them.

            “Well, I need to get back to work,” The General smirked up at him, starting to pull the sweltering coat of her uniform off. The day would only be getting hotter, and she was already starting to feel the effects of the sun on her from standing there and talking to Danse. “And since you scared off half of my settlers,” She continued, starting off towards the workshop station across from the radio. She couldn’t help the satisfied chuckle when she felt the rumble of his power armor move to follow her. Jamie draped the blue wool coat – much to Danse’s dismay – over the shoulder of her power armor, unbuckling the armor plates over her chest to reveal the half-buttoned shirt beneath. When she’d gotten all of her plate off, she put that down on the workbench, and untucked her under shirt to tie up the bottom of it around her waist so that her chest was covered save for the V from the open top buttons, but her midriff was bare. The suspenders from the uniform hung at her waists, and with her hair tied up and under the tricorn she felt at least a little bit like she used to. It reminded her of the days of working in the garden at home, when Nate would bring her iced tea or lemonade and watch her tear out the weeds from her flowerbeds to the sound of the radio.

            The hot metal of Nate’s wedding ring burned against skin of her clavicle, hanging from the same chain as his dog tags she’d taken from his body in the cryo-chamber. Jamie’s throat clenched briefly, but she broke the spell of her trauma by grabbing a woven basket from the workbench and pushing it into Danse’s still-armored hands. She stared up at him, squinting still though they stood in the shade of the overhang. Anything to hide the threat of tears.

            “I hold you personally responsible for carrying my mutfruit basket while I work the earth.” The General finished, smirking up at him. “So unless you want to bake in that armor under the sweltering sun, I suggest you climb on out of there, Danse, and help me get to work until we meet with the lieutenants.”

            He was clearly surprised when she referred to him without his title, but Danse wouldn’t argue with her here. She was the General in this place, and was in command, even though she was only his Knight.

            As Jamie turned and strode off towards her small orchard of mutfruit trees, she listened with no small amount of satisfaction to the mechanical grind and hiss as Danse climbed out of his heavy suit of armor. She was already standing by her trees when she turned to look back at him, and couldn’t help the laugh that threatened to break through her throat.

            “Would you like a change of clothes?” She asked, grinning as he trudged toward her in his orange Brotherhood uniform. “Something a little more comfortable than that?”

            “What do you mean?” Danse asked, frowning still as he held the woven basket under his arm. “Just because you’re set and ready to climb into a suit of armor wearing civilian clothes doesn’t mean we all are. I prefer wearing this under my suit.”

            “Yes but it can’t be comfortable to work in while it’s this hot. I can’t imagine that it feels any sort of good to have all of that sticking to you while you’re sweating.” Jamie couldn’t help but laugh at the embarrassed look on Danse’s face. He was obviously already warm in this weather, it wouldn’t do good for him to feel even worse about this whole ordeal.

            “Gates!” Jamie turned to face the battlements, squinting up at the silhouette of a large man standing at attention and holding a laser musket.

            “Yes, General?” The Minuteman called back, and Danse was pleased to note that he didn’t drop his stance or position aside from turning to face his commanding officer.

            Jamie turned back to glance over her Paladin once more before addressing Gates again. “Can you spare a flannel and jeans for my friend, here? You’re about the only man I know in the whole fort that might match his size!”

            Gates had been one of the men whose gun lingered longest on the Brotherhood soldiers while they were here. Jamie and Danse couldn’t see his face, but by the long pause that followed the General’s question, both could tell that the soldier was none too pleased about the request. Still though, Jamie at least knew he couldn’t deny her. Technically. It wasn’t a card she liked to pull, but if she had to then she would.

            “Yes, ma’am,” Gates finally sighed back, loud enough for them to hear it clearly. He waited until Jamie gave him the clear to leave his position, and Danse watched as he was methodically replaced by another Minuteman that had been on break nearby.

            They were untrained, sure, but the Paladin had to admit that they were a smooth operation. Jamie ran a tight ship, and he hoped to at least accredit some of that to the training that she had received under his watch in the Brotherhood. He would never tell her outright that he approved of the oiled machine that her Minutemen were presenting, but Danse knew that Jamie was proud of them enough already.

            “Now keep holding that,” the General said to Danse, pointing to the basket under his arm. “It’s gonna get real heavy real fast now, and when the basket’s full you’re going to take it to the workshop and grab another one. The traders need to get out before noon or else the bandits will get them.” She added as she pointed back to where their suits of power armor stood sentry next to each other. “I’ll gather the ones that have fallen already, and you take the ones that are ripe on the branches.” Jamie pulled her hat off as she spoke, shoving it into her back pocket unceremoniously. “You’ll know they’re ripe when they’re soft and a deep purple. They squish easy though, so try to be gentle with them when you’re pulling them off the tree.”

            Danse gave a grunt of assent to this, and then General Schuyler was on her knees in the dirt, startling the Paladin into action. He held the basket low so that she could reach up into it and put in mutfruit as she tossed aside the weeds that got in her way. There were at least three fallen fruits in the basket by the time that he had reached out and gently pried one from the branch, careful to not break the skin of it in the handling. Jamie moved quickly, with the skill and intent of an experienced gardener, wild red hair falling out of the bun on the top of her head and plastering to her sweat drenched neck.

            The Paladin was entranced, so much so that he almost didn’t notice it when there was a short grunt of acknowledgement behind him. He tensed, turning his head to the side, and was briefly relieved to see that it was only Gates standing there holding out a pair of jeans and a weathered flannel shirt out in front of him.

            “Keep it, Brotherhood.” The man grunted, tossing the clothes to Danse and not bothering to make sure he caught them.

            With his hands already full, Danse fumbled with the basket briefly, but when he gathered himself he was surprised to find that Jamie had already nearly filled the basket halfway with fallen fruit.

            “Go get changed,” Jamie looked up at him, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her palm. “Leave the basket here – my quarters are at the far left end of the hall next to the workshop. You’re free to leave your uniform there. I’ve got washing to do later.”

            Jamie watched as Danse set the basket down beside her with a quiet thanks. She watched him leave, and when he had turned into the stone hallway that led to her quarters, she turned her attention to Gates.

            “He’s my friend, Gates,” the General started, sighing. She pushed her damp hair from her forehead then leaned her elbows on her knees to look up at the lieutenant.

            “I don’t like him.” Gates replied, glaring back, unashamed. “He has no right to drop in here unannounced.”

            “You don’t like the _Brotherhood_.” Jamie corrected, her lips turning down into a frown. “And he has every right to – he is my sponsor with them, and I think they have their minds set on the right goal, in a little bit of a wrong way. I’m trying to partner with them, Gates. I’m trying to help the Brotherhood, the Minutemen, and the Commonwealth. If we unite all of us, then we have a chance to take down the Institute and start rebuilding this damned world to the way that it used to be.”

            It could never be the way that it was before. Jamie knew that more than anyone on this forsaken wasteland. The grass after the fallout would literally never be as green as it once was, and Jamie would never have the perfect garden or see her son grow up or be the damn good lawyer she knew she would have been. She grit her teeth against the onslaught of emotion. The world would never be that way again, and she had to come to terms with that. The Commonwealth as it was now was her reality, and if that meant carrying three types of guns and an arsenal of hand grenades, then so be it. She was the General now, and not just Jamie Schuyler-Brown, JSD.

            Gates would have been a fool if he hadn’t seen the look on her face. Her people knew where she had come from – _when_ she had come from – and knew the fresh hurt in her. Many of her lieutenants especially felt the pain of their leader, and did what they could to help her throughout the Commonwealth.

            “Forgive me, ma’am,” Gates started again, though he clearly still didn’t like the idea of what he was going to say. “I’ll… try to play nice.”

            He tipped his hat to her before going back off towards the battlements, and Jamie turned her attention back to the mutfruit and the weeds and the dirt beneath her fingers. This gave her some semblance of normalcy, and she wouldn’t let anyone take it away. Not Gates, not Preston, not even Danse.

            Jamie was rising to her feet, the now-filled basket of mutfruit in her hands, when she saw him approaching from the inner walls.

            Gates may have been a big man, but he by no means was he the same size as Paladin Danse. She watched her sponsor approach as he rolled the sleeves of the flannel shirt up to his biceps, the fabric pulling taut over the strong muscle. There was a dirty, once-white t-shirt beneath the red plaid, but with the way it clung to his chest the fabric may as well have not been there. Danse had abandoned his hood, revealing the thick dark hair that parted to the side. It complimented his facial structure, accenting the line of his jaw now that it wasn’t hidden in the cap of his uniform hood. The flannel was unbuttoned for moving room, and the t-shirt was riding up just enough that Jamie could see the hints of dark hair just above his hips, descending below the waistline of his jeans.

            Nate’s ring burned hotter every second, but Jamie couldn’t help her eyes from roaming across the expanse of the Paladin’s chest as he approached.

            Her heart thudded in her chest.

            The basket slipped from her fingers.


	4. MIA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watch as the General makes a fool of herself in a slightly longer chapter than the others because I had this all written out on paper and then I never wrote it in Word and then it took a long time for me to update. Honestly I didn't really edit this as well as I should have in my haste to get it out.

“Whoa –“

            Danse had been a soldier for longer, and his reflexes had been honed and finely tuned for the better part of his life, where Jamie sometimes still found her joints stiffening when the turbulent air in the Commonwealth changed from seventy degrees to thirty in two days tops. It was the aftereffect of her cryogenic dip in the vault still haunting her after so many months. And it was why Danse moved like lightening compared to her sluggish response, catching the basket of mutfruit before Jamie could even register that it were out of her hands. She had collected the fruit faster than he had because she knew the garden like the back of her hand – Danse had saved them because he moved like lightening _all_ the time.

            And Jamie stood there, mortified, staring down at the few of the fruits that had escaped the confines of the basket and fallen to the earth between their feet. She registered that Danse stood close to her, just the basket and half an arm’s length between them. Jamie wanted to ignore him and pick up the fruit and get on with her life, but he was so close and she couldn’t bend down to get them in fear of hitting his head with hers.

            This was beyond embarrassing.

            He was just… so – _handsome_ in civilian clothes! Jamie wished she had never asked Gates to lend him something more comfortable, had just bore through letting him suffer in the heat in that stupid Brotherhood uniform. But if there was anything that was worse than him being so handsome it was the idea of someone his size in that tacky jumpsuit following her around all day.

            Someone was punishing her. On top of everything else, someone in whatever heaven she use to pray to _had_ to be punishing her for her wrongdoings.

            “Are you alright, soldier?” Danse’s voice snapped her back to attention, the General’s eyes darting to his almost immediately. It was a trained response to not make eye contact with her superiors, but Jamie couldn’t look away from the dark-brown eyes that stared at her in concern. The sun glittered against them, making them lighter, warmer – like the coffee that Codsworth used to make her in the morning before she went to work.

            Heaven help her, she had fallen _hard_ in the time that she’d been away from the Brotherhood. Hard, and fast, and entirely inappropriately. The Brotherhood didn’t have any problems with soldiers having relationships but Danse was her superior and her _sponsor_ and her commander and it was just in poor fucking taste to –

            _To forget that he had asked her a question!_

            Jamie swore internally when she realized she had been staring into his eyes with her mouth popped open in a tiny ‘o’. He probably thought she was going mad from the radiation sickness. She cleared her throat quickly, shaking her head to dispel her thoughts.

            “Yes, sorry,” she muttered, clearing her throat again out of nerves. “I just – just got a little lightheaded is all,” The General took her hat off, fanning herself frantically, giving a nervous sort of laugh. “Guess I lost track of time today – been working for longer than I thought I was, out in the sun and all.”

            “Would you like me to get you some water from the pump?” Danse asked, raising a thick eyebrow as he adjusted the basket on his hip. “It won’t do well for you to work yourself sick, Schuyler.”

            “No!” Jamie almost shouted, too loud and too fast for her liking. “No – sorry, it’s okay. You’re right, I don’t want to work too hard, I need a break – and some… some _shade_.” Fuck, she was making a fool of herself. Nate’s ring burned hotter still, as if her husband knew that she was making a fool of herself in front of some other man and he approved of the failure. Shame colored her face now, too, in addition to the embarrassment and the sun. “I’ll go get it myself.” She added in a quick mumble, darting away from the Paladin too fast for him to object or order her around.

            When she was safe in the confines of the cool stone hallway that connected to the water pump – a wonderfully long distance put between her and the Paladin – Jamie let out a frustrated groan, pressing the heels of her hands against her closed eyes. This was infuriating! Ten months out of the vault and she was making a fool of herself in front of a new man! Back during the war she had worked with widows who had mourned for at least a full year before they even _thought_ about moving on from their marriages, but she was dancing around the Commonwealth with a – a –

            An infuriated groan passed through her lips as the heat of embarrassment trailed up her neck and cheeks again. Jamie turned to the pump, splashing purified water over her face and cupping her hands to drink some of it down.

            “That was the saddest display I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

            The general choked on the water in her throat, spluttering in surprise at the sudden appearance of a person next to her. A withered hand beat down on her shoulder until the coughing subsided and the General could turn to glare at whoever had incited the fit in the first place.

            John Hancock grinned at her from his place leaned against the purifier pipe, thin lips spread wide across his face, revealing his yellowing teeth. It was a shit-eating grin that Jamie was used to, but not one that she expected to see. She had noticed Hancock retreat with the rest of the ghouls with the appearance of the Brotherhood at their gates, and wondered briefly what had brought him this close to revealing himself to the Paladin across the courtyard.

            “What?” Jamie asked, still recovering from the shock of choking on water. “What’re you talking about?”

            “Really, sister?” John scoffed, rolling his dark eyes in response. “I didn’t think you had a thing for _fascists._ ”

            Oh. So that’s what this was about. Jamie felt her cheeks color again, but didn’t dignify it with a response. She knew the Brotherhood was filled with radicals, and Danse was no exception. His anti-ghoul rhetoric alone was perhaps the strongest, rivaled only by Elder Maxson himself. She knew that Hancock was right in his accusation – assessment, more like it – but she also knew that she was working on bringing Danse to light about some of the issues that he held such strong – harmful – beliefs in. If there was anything she hoped he would get through their experiment in the Commonwealth, it was that things weren’t as black and white as he made them out to be.

            But Hancock had implied something that she wasn’t entirely comfortable admitting out loud.

            “I do not have a _thing_ for him,” Jamie grumbled, wiping her face off with the back of her hand. She succeeded only in smearing the water around her face, but it was a cool relief from the heat that had been flooding her since Danse had arrived. “That’s absurd. And there was no _display,_ Hancock. So before you get yourself worked up for nothing, you can drop the entire issue.”

            “Oh come on, General,” John let out a bark of laughter, shaking his head. “We both know I’m right. You practically fell all over him just now. What was it – the tight ass in that jumpsuit?” He asked, his voice raising ever higher as he spoke, the shit-eating grin returning in full force. “Or the denim pulling tight over that thick -“

            “Hancock!” Jamie shouted, scandalized, her hand shooting up to the hollow of her neck where Nate’s ring burned into her skin. She glanced hurriedly out to the courtyard, but it seemed Danse hadn’t heard either of them. She was surprised to see that he was on his knees in between the mutfruit trees, an empty basket beside him. Relief flooded her system.

            “Keep your voice down, you bastard,” The General glowered at the ghoul, the heat from her cheeks focusing into her eyes to burn through his mischief. “There’s nothing between Danse and I.”

            “I’m just sayin’,” Hancock mused, rolling his eyes again and pushing himself from the pipe and into a stroll down the stone corridor. Jamie hastened to keep up so that she could keep an eye on him in case he went and did something stupid on her behalf. “For the past months it’s been ‘Paladin this’ and ‘Danse that’,” he mocked, shoving his hands into his pockets. “And when you finally get the man back in your sights,” he added. “You flounder and end in that shameful display of something that is entirely _not_ flirting.” He turned to pin her dead with a stare. “I don’t like the guy – won’t pretend I do, even for your sake – but you do, and quite frankly it’s been annoying listening to you ramble on about him since you got back from the Hindenburg a few months ago.”

            Jamie tried to rationalize what he’d been saying, but in looking back, she knew that he was right. She’d talked mostly about her adventures with the Paladin, how much good they had done and what more they _could_ do if she could just make Danse see the light. She was thrown off by Hancock’s obvious referral of the Prydwen to a disaster from before even her own time, but before she could even question him about it, a familiar shout of her title rang through the courtyard.

            From the radio tower, she could see Preston waving for her attention. Jamie looked back to Hancock to tell him she would be back, but the ghoul shook his head.

            “Don’t worry about it, sister,” he started before she could even get her mouth open. “Even I wouldn’t be fool enough to go out there while you’ve got bigots roaming the fort. Go have fun with the guys – but make sure you keep that thing on a leash!” He added, shouting after her as Jamie bid him goodbye and jogged through the compound to meet Preston at the radio.

            Hancock rolled his eyes again, but he knew she had heard him.

            “What’s up Preston?” The General asked as she slowed to a stop in front of him. Preston had given the Minuteman at the radio a pat on the shoulder before turning his attention back to the General.

            “We made radio contact with five of the teams,” Her right-hand-man started, jerking his thumb back to point at the radio beacon. “Lieutenants Whitlock, Johnson, Rodriguez, Greelo, and Collas and their teams are all inbound back to the Castle.”

            “Gates and Paolo are here,” Jamie continued, gesturing to the two stationed on the battlements on defense. “Sturges is in Sanctuary,” she included their technician among the ranks of their lieutenants because he had an important job. Sturges and the people on his team were a platoon in and of themselves. You couldn’t have a functioning militia without people taking care of the equipment. “Lind is on leave with her new family in Starlight and her squad is here, so that leaves…” Jamie’s lips pulled down into a frown. “James and his men. I sent them out to help Graygarden. Some run-of-the-mill stuff. White beaconed in that they needed some minor assistance so I gave her James. I let her know they’re new and she said that wouldn’t be a problem.”

            Preston mirrored her concern briefly before shaking his head, humor replacing concern. “They’ll be fine. That’s a long trek, and you know how White can be,” he added in a reassuring tone of his own. “She’s probably working them to the bone on mutfruit.” Preston glanced over the General’s shoulder, and his expression fell only slightly. “Speaking of which – your paladin looks like curiosity might kill his cat if you don’t go save it.”

            Jamie almost exploded into laughter at the blatant misuse of the pre-war saying, but didn’t have time to address the issue. She turned her head to glance back at Danse, and found him staring at her with open concern written across his features. She gave him a short wave and shouted that she’d be there in a minute before turning back to Preston.

            “See what you can do about getting into contact with Graygarden,” she told him. “Maybe White does have them working down in the dirt and they can’t get to their radio, or there was something wrong with it. The Garden’s is probably working just fine and they can let us know where James and his men went off to, if at all.” She gave Preston a smile and a clap on the back before she turned away to jog back to Danse. “Let me know when you make contact!” She added in a shout over her shoulder.

            Preston gave her a thumbs up from the radio tower, and Jamie waved in response. When she jogged up to the Paladin, however, her face fell at the expression on his. Danse frowned at her in worry.

            “Everything alright, General?” He asked, and Jamie couldn’t deny the little flare of heat through her whole body when she heard him refer to her by that title.

            “Yeah, everything’s fine,” she replied with a smile, kneeling down in the dirt with him to get back to work. “Just a faulty old radio, there’s nothing to worry about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Side note: I'm in the process of writing three fifteen page papers for a competition starts at the end of this week, so I don't know how much I'll be writing for pleasure in the meantime.   
> Side side note: Thank you all so much for the positivity! I love getting feedback, especially since I'm not sure how I'm doing with this because I still feel relatively new to Fallout even though I've been playing for a while. Am I doing okay? Any improvements to make? Every little bit helps :) -Sam <3


	5. Necessary Precaution

            It was another half an hour on her knees in the trees with Danse before she heard her name being called again. Jamie looked up to see Preston waving at her once more, but this time it was more frantic.

            “More trouble?” The Paladin asked from her side, his lips pulled into a frown still. He’d been glancing at her with that frown on his face for the past thirty minutes and it was starting to get on her nerves. There was nothing wrong – there had been no trouble to begin with.

            “There’s nothing to worry about, Danse,” Jamie rolled her eyes. “I can take care of my people.” But as she got to her knees and strolled over to Preston, she couldn’t deny the speed that she added to her step as she approached. The look on his face made her hasten, almost to a sprint, towards the radio tower.

            “We’ve got Graygarden.” Preston gestured to the radio. He mouthed out the word ‘White’.

            “Supervisor White,” Jamie smiled though the robot couldn’t see her, using the expression to add charm to her voice. “It’s lovely to speak with you.”

            “Charmed as ever, I’m sure,” White replied, her voice scratchy over the radio. “Is there something you need, General Schuyler?”

            “Yes, ma’am,” Jamie continued, making sure to keep her voice cordial. “A few days ago we sent a few of our men out for routine patrol to you, but we haven’t heard from them or you since.” She glanced at the sky as if it could tell her how long it had been since James and his squad had been in the Castle. “We’ve recently had a… minor emergency,” She continued, looking back to Danse, happily noting that he was focused intently on the cultivation of fruit. “And I’ve issued an emergency recall to all of my lieutenants in the field. I hope you’ll understand, ma’am,” Jamie added hastily, forgetting her charm to rush the conversation in case White interrupted. “But the situation is important for all of my men to hear, and we’ve got nothing but radio silence from Lieutenant James and his men. I was hoping you could tell us where you sent them.”

            “I’ve sent them to the water plant, dear,” White replied seemingly not irritated by Jamie’s rush. “There have been noises from there again, and quite the uproar has been caused by some of the-“

            Jamie could barely hear the rest of the explanation. Her head swam with nausea and the colors of the world around her started to drain. The water treatment plant. She remembered her mother complaining about it in the pre-war days, but couldn’t remember why. Maybe it had been an eye-sore, or maybe they were charging too much for water. Now it was infested with super mutants. She’d cleared out the worst of them by sheer force of will on her own, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t come back. She felt sick. James had just recently been promoted to field Lieutenant and his team was still mostly wet behind the ears. Jamie had sent them to their deaths without even realizing it.

            That team couldn’t handle a fresh pack of angry super mutants any more than she could handle a deathclaw on her own.

            “General?” Jamie registered that it was Preston speaking to her now, his hand on her shoulder shaking her gently. “Jamie – what’s wrong?”

            “Super mutants.” She whispered, her eyes wide and horrified as she turned to face Preston head on, all but forgetting Whtie on the other end of the radio. She vaguely heard the regular day-shift operator thanking Supervisor White for her time. “Preston, the water plant was full of Super Mutants.”

            The color drained from the Colonel, his face going ashen with the realization.

            Jamie had cleared out the water plant with the help of the Brotherhood some months ago, it was why Graygarden had assented to being one of her settlements in the first place. She’d cleared out the water plant so that their crop wouldn’t be tainted. She had no idea that there would be such an infestation when she arrived, but the Brotherhood was already there, and they were pleased to have her and Danse there when they’d showed up unannounced after speaking with Supervisor White. It was when she was still hunting down tech for Haylen and wiping out ghouls for Rhys.

            _“I’m not sure how this pertains to the mission, Knight.” Danse had scolded her, the frown in his voice obvious even under the helmet of his power armor. “We should be looking for-“_

_“Danse look, I know I’ve got an obligation and a mission to the Brotherhood, but you know I have to take care of the Minutemen on top of that.” She didn’t pull this excuse all the time, and only ever sidetracked them from their missions when Preston contacted her personally over the radio. “These people-“_

_“They’re robots!”_

_“They’re my settlement, whether you like it or not, and their crop is important to the entire Commonwealth.” She scolded in return, knowing she would never hear the end of it later. “They’re not synths. They don’t think they’re people, and if their crop is being tainted by bad water then I’ve got to help them.” She gestured in front of her with Righteous Authority. “Now are we going to keep going, or do I have to-“_

_“HUMANS! DIE!”_

_The shriek of outrage from a Super Mutant set them both into battle mode, but Jamie realized quickly that it was too far away. There was no way that the cry could have been meant for her and Danse. Still, they moved forward quietly, Danse instinctively taking point. Jamie let him. They might have been on a mission for the Minutemen, but they were still on duty and he was still her superior officer. And she was terrified of Super Mutants._

_There was a barrage of gunfire in the distance, the familiar angry whir of a Vertibird landing. Danse picked up his pace to double, Jamie close behind him. They stopped at the edge of the woods that they were shielded by, the light of the horror in front of them glinting off of their visors._

_The Brotherhood had just landed down on their target zone, the Vertibird touching ground just outside of the perimeter of the water treatment plant. Super mutants were flooding the entire courtyard, angry and giant and wielding weapons that didn’t even look like real weapons. She saw one of them holding a light post. Another had a piece of lead pipe that may have been the size of Danse._

_But the Brotherhood members that touched ground didn’t seem to be bothered by this. One stayed in the Vertibird, manning the minigun there, as it launched back into the air. The ‘bird whirred around to the other side of the plant, and the gunfire sounded again. The quick patter of the minigun taking out at least four mutants in quick succession. A knight and three foot soldiers slammed into the fray, a Scribe some meters back with a rifle in their hands, picking down mutant hounds that got too close to their teammates._

_“We have to get in there.” Before Jamie could respond, Paladin Danse was moving, barreling forward with his gun raised and a cry of ‘Ad Victoriam!’ on his lips._

            “I have to go get them.”

            Jamie was moving without realizing it. She had her shirt tucked back into her trousers, hat back on her head, and was at the workshop strapping her armor back on before Preston had even caught up with her.

            “What do you need General?” He asked, ready to prep her and send her on her way.

            “My missile launcher from the armory,” She started, tearing through her workbench for various pistol rounds she had stashed there.  She filled her ammo bags on autopilot, working against time.

            “Which missile launcher?”

            She had more than one? Jamie halted, staring sideways at Preston. “The one that I modded.” She finally replied. “You’ll know which one it is.” She glanced at her power armor. “Eight missiles max.”

            Preston nodded and was off in seconds, his presence at her side only to be replaced by Danse, his size blocking out most of her vision to the side. She continued to move automatically, shoving shotgun shells and .308 rounds into her bag before Danse’s hands reached out to cover her own.

            Jamie sent a glare at the Paladin, pinning him down immediately, but Danse still didn’t lift his hands from hers. He stared back instead, challenging her to a match that she wasn’t sure she wanted to have at the moment. Her hands bounced under his. She felt her stomach flop inside of her belly, but she couldn’t afford to pay attention to those feelings right now.

            “What’s going on Jamie?” Danse asked, eyebrows pulled together in a scowl. “You said nothing was wrong.”

            “Well, I lied,” The General replied, finally batting Danse’s hands away so that she could strap her favorite pistols and her shotgun to a belt that fit safely around her waist with all of its equipment attached. “Everything is wrong, Danse, I’ve sent my men to their death.”

            He looked at her in momentary confusion, expression replaced by grief and understanding that only a commanding officer could understand. Only worse, it seemed. Danse knew that the Minutemen weren’t as well trained as the Brotherhood, despite Jamie’s attempts at making it so. He knew that they were underequipped for a number of battles throughout the Commonwealth. What he didn’t know was the terrible mistake that Jamie had made.

            “What happened?” Danse asked, as though he had read her mind. She wished he hadn’t.

            She felt her breath leave her throat, the air draining from her lungs with the full realization that she would have to admit that she had failed, to Danse of all people, and he would take her back to the Prydwen and show her just how much of a mistake it was to put any stock into the Minutemen. Terror flashed across Jamie’s face, but she knew that she had to speak before Danse started asking more questions.

            “Hopefully not the same thing that happened to Cutler.” The words were past her lips before Jamie even had the chance to think about them. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Danse’s face blanch, his hands drop to his side. Understanding washed over him in all the horror that it entailed.

            “I sent them on a routine patrol check to Graygarden. There’s nothing there, no threats around anymore after we cleared out the water plant,” Jamie strapped her gun belt around her waist before her focus was put back on her task at the workbench. “I let White know that they were green, if she needed them for anything, and she said that would be fine. I – I had no _idea_ she would send them back there – Danse what if the mutants are back? What if – what if something happened to them? We haven’t heard from James or his men in three days, what if-“

            “Get ahold of yourself, Knight.” Danse’s voice was solid and stern, and it pulled Jamie out of her worst thoughts. “Super Mutants don’t work like that – we cleaned the place of them and burnt their mark on it. They won’t have returned to the water plant.” He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder. “Return there, take all necessary precaution, but I assure you, soldier, that they won’t have taken the plant back over and your men are more likely fine than not.”

            The panic that had struck her was completely wiped away. Over Danse’s shoulder, Jamie could see Preston with her missile launcher over his shoulder and she felt more embarrassed than anything. Necessary precaution. This counted, right? She didn’t want to make him carry it all the way back to the armory. Still, she felt her cheeks color in embarrassment when Preston stopped next to her and handed off the launcher.

            “Why you ever needed four missiles shot at once, I’ll never know.” The colonel remarked, lips pursed at his commander. “Doesn’t that seem a little overkill?”

            “Not at all.” Jamie replied, slinging the launcher effortlessly over her shoulder and latching it to the harness for heavy guns she had on the back plate of her armor. “More missiles equals more dead super mutants.”

            “Jamie.” She was silenced when Danse fixed her with a knowing glare. The kind of glare that she used to get from her father when she took the car out past midnight when she was 16. The kind of glare that a Paladin gave his sponsor when she was acting out of line. The kind of glare that she didn’t like getting in front of her own subordinates.

            He didn’t need to say anything more than her name, she knew the exact meaning behind it.

            “Necessary precaution, Paladin.” She returned, straightening her shoulders. They were the same height outside of their power armor, and she could just imagine being half an inch taller than him when she straightened her back all the way. Years of law school had bent her spine, but she wasn’t above snapping it straight to make a point. “I have not once nor will I ever be caught in battle with Super Mutants without a heavy weapon. You should now that I wouldn’t ever risk the lives of my subordinates by flying recklessly into battle with just a pistol.”

            “That you fly recklessly into battle at all is a risk in and of itself.” Danse shot back, but he knew that he had tested his boundaries. Here, he reminded himself, he was not in charge. These were Jamie’s men that she was taking care of, not his own. “And therefore, I cannot let you go alone.” He finished, turning towards his inert power armor.

            “Whoa, hold on there big fella,” Preston halted Danse with a hand on the Paladin’s shoulder, stopping him when Jamie was too shocked to do so herself. The Paladin’s eyes narrowed to thin slits, a glare that even Jamie hadn’t seen before. “This is Minutemen business. I should be going with the General.”

            Jamie cleared her throat, taking control of the situation back into her own hands. “Relax, Preston, he’s right.” The two of them shot surprised looks in her direction. Before Preston argued back, she held up her hand to halt him. “I _am_ the General, and that means when I can’t be here, the next best Minuteman has to take my place. You’re the Colonel, Preston. I need you to take care of the Castle when I can’t be.” She fixed him with a steady stare, making sure to make it sound like she wasn’t saying goodbye. She wasn’t going to die any time soon, not after she had survived so long in such a shitty rendering of her old one.

            Preston sighed, letting his hand slide from Danse’s shoulder. The situation diffused, and Jamie let out a sigh of relief that she hoped neither could hear under her breath.

            “Whatever you need, General.” Preston nodded his head curtly towards her, and Jamie knew that she had put him in a bad mood when he turned on his heels and marched away with military precision.

            A louder sigh this time, one that Danse definitely heard, passed Jamie’s lips as she watched her second march away from her.

            “There will always be a part of them that resents you for partnering with the Brotherhood as well.” The Paladin stated. He stood next to his power armor now, hand poised just above the unlocking mechanism. “They don’t understand that we fight for a cause similar to their own. We want to help the people of the Commonwealth just as much as the Minutemen do. They just don’t see that our methods are superior.”

            Jamie’s nose scrunched. She had met the remainders of the Minutmen before the Brotherhood even had a presence in the Commonwealth. They were good people, and deserved the respect that many settlers gave them. She understood that some of her subordinates were concerned with her attachment to the Brotherhood, but she was doing her best in both worlds. Danse was arrogant when it concerned his creed, and he failed to see the good that Jamie was doing with her ‘half-trained wastelanders’ as he’d once put it.

            “Thanks, Danse.” The General grumbled. She strapped Righteous Authority to the quick-draw rifle holster at the base of her back, tucked safely away from the missile launcher’s heavy frame, the hiss and clank of Danse’s power armor sounding behind her. “Real boost of confidence there, Paladin.”

Her earlier fluttering nerves around her Brotherhood superior started to wane. She’d missed him, but she didn’t miss being around him, that was for sure. In the few months they had been apart, she had almost forgotten the backhanded way that he gave compliments and his narrow minded opinion on the Commonwealth.

            “Aren’t you going to get into your power armor?” The Paladin asked after a moment of quiet when he was readjusted to being in his suit. Jamie realized he hadn’t changed back into his flight suit to get into his power armor. Was he being this hasty?

            “No.” The General shook her head, both in reply and to clear her thoughts. Instead, she shoved the battered old leather tricorn back onto her head roughly, staring up at the Paladin. “My men need to know that their General has come looking for them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long chapter, to make up for my absence. School has been tough so updating has been difficult.


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